Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster. For when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
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When you gaze into the abyss →
If I’m being honest →
So the worst-case scenario is someone who’s both naturally bitter and extremely ambitious, and yet only moderately successful.
~ Paul Graham from, Fierce Nerds
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Graham is one of that vanishingly-rare type of blogger: One who posts stellar ideas, very infrequently and is being heard. Follow that link, take a trip back to the 90s-blogs, and learn something about nerds.
If I’m being honest, I’m not sure if I’m a nerd or a geek… I mean, I don’t actually know the definitions of those nouns. Sure, I can go look—here’s a good definition-and-how-to-tell… but the words simply don’t stick in my head as standing for something. Worse, I can tick boxes on both columns of that how-to-tell page. On the other hand, this page has a nifty graph and I think I’m over on the nerd side.
On the other, other hand, looking for “nerd” versus “geek” here on my own blog, isn’t very helpful. Maybe… just maybe… I was a geek, but there’s a natural half-life to Geeknadium, after which a certain percentage of geeks spontaneously transform into Nerdomium?
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Never be poor →
If you shape your life according to nature, you will never be poor. If you shape your lie according to people’s opinions, you will never be rich.
~ Epicurus
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The hive mind →
Few working scientists can give a ground-up explanation of the phenomenon they study; they rely on information and techniques borrowed from other scientists. Knowledge and the virtues of the scientific orientation live far more in the community than the individual. When we talk of a “scientific community,” we are pointing to something critical: that advanced science is a social enterprise, characterized by an intricate division of cognitive labor. Individual scientists, no less than the quacks, can be famously bull-headed, overly enamored of pet theories, dismissive of new evidence, and heedless of their fallibility. (Hence Max Planck’s observation that science advances one funeral at a time.) But as a community endeavor, it is beautifully self-correcting.
Beautifully organized, however, it is not. Seen up close, the scientific community—with its muddled peer-review process, badly written journal articles, subtly contemptuous letters to the editor, overtly contemptuous subreddit threads, and pompous pronouncements of the academy— looks like a rickety vehicle for getting to truth. Yet the hive mind swarms ever forward. It now advances knowledge in almost every realm of existence—even the humanities, where neuroscience and computerization are shaping understanding of everything from free will to how art and literature have evolved over time.
~ Atul Gawande from, Atul Gawande and the Mistrust of Science
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I can’t add to that. I only wanted to be sure that others see it too.
Meanwhile, I never bothered to read Gawande’s hit book, The Checklist Manifesto. (To be candid, bordering on obnoxious: Time is limited, and I don’t need to seek more information about processes. I’ve got that sorted.) But it has hovered in my awareness none the less. Recently, two unrelated sources gave over-the-top praise for Gawande’s newer book, Being Mortal. On those recommendations alone it’s now in my reading queue. I’ve cracked it open, and done the preliminary reading… Have you read it? Do you have any thoughts on it?
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Your faculty of reason →
You are a human being; that is, a mortal animal capable of making a rational use of impressions. And what does it mean to use them rationally? In accordance with nature and perfectly. What is exceptional in you? Is it the animal part? No. The mortal? No. That which enables you to deal with impressions? No. What is exceptional in you is your faculty of reason.
~ Epictetus
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Sedantarism →
Right now, “sedentary culture” is part of the broader, overarching culture, but subcultures—including our individual culture—can also be sedentary. These sedentary subcultures end up reinforcing the overarching culture, so what can we do? I’m (obviously) interested in working on sedentarism at the broadest cultural level, but I recognize that the most immediate benefits can be found by changing our personal culture. I’ve made working on sedentarism at this level part of my work as well.
~ Katy Bowman from, «https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/changing-a-sedentary-culture/»
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Overall, the amount of activity [for Americans] has gone up slightly since the 1970s. The big issue is that our diet is killing us. Becoming more active alone isn’t enough—and Bowman’s take is nuanced, I’m not disagreeing with her article. But the first-order thing is diet. (I don’t mean “restriction” or “reduction” per se, I mean what specifically are you eating? That, “diet.”) That said, “eat better stuff” and “move around” is the prescription.
I’m reminded of, that room we all euphemistically call a living room: Would I call it my sedentary entertainment room, if I were honest? I realized that I should call it that, and so I rearranged the entire room, and got rid of the dedicated “tv” device. I still consume entertainment, but now it’s just one thing I can do in that room, rather than what the room is designed to be used for. We’ve done this, and continue to redo this occassionally, for every space inside and outside our home. For example: We don’t have a “second bedroom” nor “guest room”; We have [what we call] the “middle room”… and it’s got foam mats on the floor and random exercise, self-care, movement stuff… a finger-board over the door, a full-length mirror, a pull-up bar bolted into the ceiling, a chalk-board wall for tracking and notes… space for books. And the room also has a folding frame, air mattress, and bedding for the extremely rare guests who visit.
Frankly, there isn’t much in the way of “sedentary” left that I can trim out of my life. The vast majority of what I do is mental work. So I’m reading, writing and computing a lot. What’s left for me is to develop a healthy relationship to food. I get mental—over think, extreme thinking, stuck in my head… that sort of thing—and the way I’ve learned is the easiest escape is to run to entertainment. And to eat while being entertained. But, I’ve only learned that as being the easiest. There are a number of other things that also work to “fix” my thinking: Reading, writing, and physical activity can all work too. The hard part is changing my learned behavior. For me, it’s a matter of crafting my environment to encourage me to do things other than seek entertainment. (Learning to not mentally stress myself out would be even better, and I’m working on that too.)
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Mindset with Elizabeth Cunningham →
How can someone with no technical expertise successfully create and sustain a podcast while navigating challenges and leveraging teamwork?
Hear the story of a podcast journey that started with a simple Facebook post and evolved into a partnership with a professional network.
What is your why? […] because I’m doing this because I want to talk about the taboo things around relationships and sex and love and [simply because] I want to? That’s my message and that’s why I want to make a normal conversation.
~ Elizabeth Cunningham (21:37)
The conversation explores how Elizabeth navigates the world of podcasting without a technical background. She shares her experiences of starting with zero tech knowledge and seeking help from friends and professionals along the way. Through simple actions like posting on Facebook and asking for guidance, she built a podcast with over 60 episodes, proving that technical expertise is not a prerequisite for success. The discussion highlights the importance of focusing on the message and reaching out for support when needed.
Another key theme is the significance of taking action despite uncertainty. Elizabeth reflects on how her regrets were always tied to inaction, while her successes stemmed from simply trying, even when the outcome was unclear. The conversation also touches on the benefits of forming a team and the synergy that arises when working collaboratively, as well as the value of starting small, mastering one thing, and building from there. These lessons apply not just to podcasting but to any creative or professional endeavor.
Takeaways
Starting without technical expertise — Emphasizing that podcasting can begin with little or no tech skills by focusing on the basics and seeking help.
Value of action — Highlighting how taking action, even in uncertainty, leads to growth and learning.
Building a supportive network — Stressing the importance of reaching out to others and asking for help, especially when starting something new.
Team collaboration — Discussing how forming a team can create synergy and improve creative outcomes.
Adapting to challenges — Sharing examples of how challenges like COVID-19 were met with adaptability and new approaches.
Focusing on the “why” — Exploring the need to understand and align actions with a clear purpose or mission.
Starting small — Encouraging listeners to focus on mastering one platform or skill before expanding further.
Overcoming mindset blocks — Addressing how mindset issues can hinder progress and providing ways to move forward.
Resources
Elizabeth Cunningham @elzcunningham
Love Dripping From the Walls Podcast — Elizabeth’s podcast discussing love, sex, and relationships.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
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The mid-point →
At the mid-point of the path through life, I found myself lost in a wood so dark, the way ahead was blotted out. The keening sound I still make shows how hard it is to say how harsh and bitter that place felt to me —
~ Dante
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Blame yourself →
Socrates knew how a rational soul is moved; that it is like a balance, and if a weight is thrown in the scale, it will incline whether you wish it or not. Show the rational governing faculty a contradiction, and it will renounce it; but if you fail to do so, blame yourself rather than the person whom you are unable to convince.
~ Epictetus
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When? →
Most of us are content to live in a world where time is simply what a clock reads. The interdisciplinary artist Alicia Eggert is not. Through co-opting clocks and forms of commercial signage (billboards, neon signs, inflatable nylon of the kind that animates the air dancers in the parking lots of auto dealerships), Eggert makes conceptual art that invites us to experience the dimensions of time through the language we use to talk about it.
~ Ahmed Kabil from, How Long is Now? – Long Now
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Thinking about the nature of time always feels like trying to find the other edge of the Mobius strip. At first, I’m mildly excited to be reminded of such a simple thing. It’s such an interesting thing to think about. I go around and around trying to grasp different time scales, and the entire expanse of time. But soon I realize that I’m really only thinking in circles. Is there a takeaway beyond, “being mindful is good”?
Or does simply performing the awareness of time and the circular thinking, somehow reset—or recenter, or realign?—my thinking? Reset my thinking in the same way that one resets the drum-brakes on your car, by backing-up and then braking firmly causes the drum brakes to adjust their grip on the brake cable.
Also, see other branching from when.
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